PACIFIC WAR COUNCIL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 18 February 1942, Page 5

PACIFIC WAR COUNCIL

CANADA TO BE REPRESENTED j Ottawa, Feb. 16. The Prime Minister, Ivlr MacKenzie i King, declared in the House of Commons that Canada will be represented on the Pacific War Council in London should its discussions be extended to cover the whole Pacific area. LOSS OF SINGAPORE COMPLACENCY AND FIFTH COLUMNISTS ASSERTION EY PRESS CORRESPONDENT (Rec. 10.15 a.m.) London, Feb. 17. Asserting that the loss of Singapore was due at least partly to bureaucracy 1 complacency and a legion of fifth : columnists, the British United Press ( representative, Mr Harold Guard, who 1 is in Batavia, recalls that he wrote a { story on 18th April 1941, quoting mili- : tary authorities as saying that the ' Malayan jungle did not offer sufficient ‘ protection against enemy infiltration. 1 The censor passed it but said it was ! so absurd that it would make the British United Press look ridiculous. During the next four months natives who had a grudge against the British showed the Japanese paths through the jungle thickets. I followed the battle down the Malayan peninsula and saw fifth columnists swarming through the jungle. I believe that in December the natives might have been rallied but it did not happen. The battle of Malaya as reported officially might give the impression of a bitter, hard-fought planned defence. Actually it was a retieat improvised from day to day.— P.A.